Irakli Kobakhidze, a member of the Georgian Parliament, has been elected as Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

19 candidates have been elected as Vice Presidents of PACE.

The members of PACE only objected to the candidate proposed by the Russian delegation, Piotr Tolstoy. Maria Mezentseva, the representative of the Ukrainian delegation, raised an objection claiming that Tolstoy uses hate speech and anti-Semitic statements.

As regards the election of a Vice-President in respect of the Russian Federation, the Assembly decided to hold, this afternoon, a vote by secret ballot on the election of Piotr Tolstoy.

Twenty Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session.

As a reminder, Georgia took over the chairmanship of Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers for a six-month term starting November 27.

The voting was held as part of the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg today.  The Delegation of the Parliament of Georgia, headed by Irakli Kobakhidze, participates in the session.

Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani will deliver a speech at the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg today. On January 28, President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili will address Assembly members as well.